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Attendees can
read the stories of Veterans from every branch of the military from World War
II through the Post-9/11 era, then see the artist’s interpretation of the same
story.

For veteran
Michael, the Army was a chance to test himself
and improve his skills.He served from
2005 to 2013 and was stationed in Iraq for some of that time. What started as a
four-month deployment there eventually stretched into 18 months.

“It’s
interesting the way the mind and the body all works together,” he said. “You
don’t think you can carry that much weight or exist in that much heat. And then
you do.”

Participant
Ernest served in the Army from 1970 to ‘71. He recalls saving a fellow soldier
injured by a landmine by sticking his
fingers in the man’s chest wound to stop blood loss. He put him on a helicopter but assumed he had died until he
encountered him years later at an Army reunion.

“The only way I
would know you is if you had a bunch of holes in your chest,” Ernest told the
man. “He looked at me and unbuttoned his shirt and pulled his T-shirt up.
I put my fingers back in those holes. He had lived. But for 29 years I
thought he had died. Stuff like that gets burned into your mind and it just doesn’t go away.”

Artist Susan
Chouteau’s painting depicts Ernest and the man he saved, both of their hands
covering the holes in his chest.

Lauren, who
also told her story as part of the project, served in the Army during Vietnam
and remembers the hatred she faced upon
her return from the unpopular war.

“I expected a
welcome. I thought that's what it was all about. When our plane landed, there was a gaggle of women on the other side of
the chain link fence. And I thought ‘Wow this is great. A welcome.’Well it was welcome in terms of jeers, accusations of “baby killer,” of
spitting. Being gone one month short of four years, I hadn't had any knowledge
of the animus that existed
against Vietnam. It was exceedingly
painful. People around me acted like I had leprosy.”

Nick remembers
joining the Navy in 2002 to escape a hard life as a gay man in a small town. He
said eventually, hiding who he was became
even harder.

“It takes a
toll on your energy and your soul,” he said. “Just lying about yourself and who
you are every single day for five years is pretty exhausting. Even if you have
friends who know and don’t care, you still have to lie.”

Leonard, who
also told his story, served in the Army from 1944 to 1946, starting when he was
just 18.

“The Battle of
the Bulge was first. My first real combat. I crossed the Rhine River on my 19th
birthday,” he said “From there, we went down to these concentration camps, and that was something. Humans stacked
up, some of them half dead, some of them dead. Something I don’t want to see
again. There were some in their bunks that we took out that were still alive,
but they didn’t know it.”

See more of the
stories for yourself when the EVAC project comes to American Frame. A reception will take place at 5:30 p.m. Friday,
November 9th, with a silent auction running until 7 p.m.